Risk factors for child maltreatment in South Korea: An investigation of a nationally representative sample

This study investigated the risk factors associated with the occurrence of child physical and psychological abuse in South Korea based on the ecological theory of child maltreatment. A subsample of 3‐ to 18‐year‐old children from “A Study on the Current State of Child Abuse and Neglect,” a nationally representative study on child abuse and neglect, was utilized for secondary data analysis. The sample was divided into two age groups (third graders in elementary school and below and fourth graders and above). We utilized hierarchical logistic regression for each age group separately to analyze the data. The variables at each level of the system (i.e., ontogenic development, microsystem, and exosystem) were entered into the model in sequential order. The results showed the common risk factors for both age groups are the caregiver's experience of abuse in childhood, the child's problem behavior, exposure to domestic violence, community size, and informal social control. The child's age was also significant in both groups but in the opposite direction. Social support was a significant predictor for the younger age group only, while the caregiver's level of education was significant for the older age group only. Implications for future research and practice are discussed based on the study results.     

Effects of a ball-backrest chair on the muscles associated with upper crossed syndrome when working at a VDT

This study examined the effect of a ball-backrest chair on the weakness and tightness of muscles associated with upper crossed syndrome when working at a visual display terminal (VDT). The surface electromyography (EMG) was recorded from the serratus anterior, middle trapezius, and upper trapezius muscles of 20 adults as they performed VDT work, which are known as the weakened and tightened muscles of upper crossed syndrome. The recorded signals were averaged and normalized to the mean amplitude of the EMG signal obtained during submaximal reference voluntary contractions. The significance of differences between the use of a general-purpose backrest and a ball backrest was tested by paired t-test, with the significance cutoff set at alpha=0.05. The activities of the serratus anterior and middle trapezius muscles increased and that of the upper trapezius muscle decreased when sitting in a ball-backrest chair compared to when sitting in a chair with a general-purpose backrest (p<0.05). These results indicate that the use of a ball-backrest chair reduces the risk of patients with upper crossed syndrome developing muscles soreness or injury related to overuse when working at a VDT.     

Do we need the constant term in the heterogenous autoregressive model for forecasting realized volatilities?

No-constant strategy is considered for the heterogenous autoregressive (HAR) model of Corsi, which is motivated by smaller biases of its estimated HAR coefficients than those of the constant HAR model. The no-constant model produces better forecasts than the constant model for four real datasets of the realized volatilities (RVs) of some major assets. Robustness of forecast improvement is verified for other functions of realized variance and log RV and for the extended datasets of all 20 RVs of Oxford-Man realized library. A Monte Carlo simulation also reveals improved forecasts for some historic HAR model estimated by Corsi.     

Welfare residualism: a comparative study of the Basic Livelihood Security systems in China and South Korea

Gao Q, Yoo J, Yang S‐M, Zhai F. Welfare residualism: a comparative study of the Basic Livelihood Security systems in China and South Korea Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 113–124 © 2010 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. In this article, the Basic Livelihood Security (BLS) systems of China and South Korea are compared. The purpose of BLS is to provide a safety net for poor families, particularly the unemployed and the retired who were hard‐hit by recent economic reforms and crises. A common characteristic of the two systems is residual welfare marked by strict eligibility rules and limited coverage. Both systems are subordinate to the primary goal of economic growth and therefore only compensate for the very disadvantaged left behind by market competition. Neither system is particularly effective in achieving its original antipoverty goals. However, South Korea's provision of self‐support programs to supplement cash transfers has helped individuals to move from welfare to work, and thus has implications for China's BLS system. Both countries need to put more emphasis on equity and social justice in their ongoing reforms and expansions of BLS.     

The Effect of Infancy Childcare Center Use and Maternal Employment on Toddlers’ Language Development in South Korea

Using first to fourth wave data of the Panel Study of Korean Children (PSKC), this study explores the effects of childcare center use, maternal employment, and other child and familial characteristics on the language development of toddlers in Korea. Among the 2078 families with children in the PSKC, those who completed the Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Test at the fourth wave were selected, and a small number of disabled or prematurely born children were excluded. In addition, to clarify the effects of maternal employment, families with mothers who were either employed or unemployed for three consecutive years during the child's infancy were selected. Regression analysis showed that neither childcare center use nor maternal employment during infancy had significant effects on toddlers’ expressive and receptive vocabulary at the fourth wave. Family characteristics, such as household poverty and maternal education level, as well as child characteristics, such as gender and birth order, had significant effects on expressed vocabulary. However, only children's gender significantly affected the receptive vocabulary level of toddlers.     

Book Review

Monti P, Colby S, O'Leary T. Adolescents, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse: Reaching Teens Through Brief Interventions. New York: Guilford; 2001. 338 pps, ISBN 1-57230-658-0; Hard cover, $37     

Losing ground: The persistent declining economic fortunes of children

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate trends in the income status of children, as compared to that of adults and elderly people, from 1991 through 2005. Using the March 1992, 1999, and 2006 Current Population Surveys (CPS), this study examines income distributions of children relative to adults and elderly people at three stages: pre-transfer income, pre-transfer income plus social insurance benefits, and pre-transfer income plus social insurance benefits plus welfare payments. While children as well as adults and elderly people lost economic ground at the post-transfer income stage from 1991 to 2005, the losses experienced by children surpassed those of adults and elderly people. This occurred despite the fact that income growth among children was greater than that of adults and elderly people at the pre-transfer stage – a demonstration of increases in employment income of their parents which coincided with the welfare reforms of 1996. This study also found that declines in the distributive effect of both social insurance benefits and welfare payments were greater for minority children. Policy implications are discussed.     

Recognition of Facial Expressions of Negative Emotions in Romantic Relationships

Previous research has demonstrated that individuals who were accurate at recognizing facial expressions of emotions reported better relationships with family and friends. The purpose of the present study was to test whether the ability to recognize facial expressions of negative emotions predicted greater relationship satisfaction with their romantic relationships and whether this link was mediated by constructive responses to conflict. Participants currently involved in a romantic relationship completed a validated performance measure of recognition of facial expressions and afterwards reported on the responses they engaged in during conflict with their romantic partner and rated their romantic relationship satisfaction. Results showed that accurate recognition of facial expressions of negative emotions (anger, contempt, disgust, fear, and sadness) predicted less conflict engaging behaviors during conflict with their romantic partners (but not positive problem solving and withdrawal), which in turn predicted greater relationship satisfaction. The present study is the first to show that the ability to recognize facial expressions of negative emotions is related to romantic relationship satisfaction and that constructive responses to conflict such as less conflict engaging behaviors, mediate this process.     

Quality of Life Across Population Groups: Women in the Workplace: Gender and Wage Differentials

Social Indicators Research - The purpose of this study is to clarify the real causes of gender wage differentials in Korea by analyzing changes over the period 1988–1999. The participation...     

Canonical Correlation Analysis Through Linear Modeling

In this paper, we introduce linear modeling of canonical correlation analysis, which estimates canonical direction matrices by minimising a quadratic objective function. The linear modeling results in a class of estimators of canonical direction matrices, and an optimal class is derived in the sense described herein. The optimal class guarantees several of the following desirable advantages: first, its estimates of canonical direction matrices are asymptotically efficient; second, its test statistic for determining the number of canonical covariates always has a chi‐squared distribution asymptotically; third, it is straight forward to construct tests for variable selection. The standard canonical correlation analysis and other existing methods turn out to be suboptimal members of the class. Finally, we study the role of canonical variates as a means of dimension reduction for predictors and responses in multivariate regression. Numerical studies and data analysis are presented.